Here's the deal. We've just kind of been floating in limbo, waiting for Tom to heal from the surgery and get ready to start chemo. His PET scan showed some involved lymph nodes in his chest. That information was very scary to us. Dr Weinstein, the oncologist, thought it would be difficult to get a needle biopsy of one of the lymph nodes because of their location in his chest, but worth consulting a radiologist, who said maybe.

Monday, Tom went in for an ultrasound needle biopsy and the Dr felt it was just too risky of a location. Wednesday we saw Dr. W again, he explained in more detail what the lymph nodes might be and felt it would be nice to have a biopsy, but not critical at this point. Since Tom needs to have a portocath inserted into his chest for his chemo, we all thought we should talk to the surgeon about getting a biopsy at the same time. So we did, today. Same reply, if necessary he would go in surgically, but at this point surgical risks outweigh the advantage of knowing what's in the nodes right away. Because of the lymph nodes in the chest, the progress of the chemo will be monitored sooner and more frequently, the assumption (hope) is that it is colon cancer in the nodes and not something else. If it is colon cancer the chest nodes will respond the same way to the chemo as the nodes in his abdomen. That would be shrink up and go away! We sure hope.

So, Monday morning, Tom goes in to get his portocath. A portocath as we understand it is a little box thing under the skin in the chest with a tube that goes into a blood vessel. That way they can draw blood and administer medicine without having to find a new vein each time. Common in chemo, it is just day surgery. Tuesday, we meet with a Naturopath that works with a clinic that does acupuncture and other supportive medicine to help mitigate the side effects from chemo. We went to the clinic last week and thought they were great as does DR. W and others we know that have used them. Wednesday, back to Dr. W to discuss chemo more and and schedule the start of chemo for the following week.

Many of you have been emailing us with support, questions and your own news. We love hearing from you and haven't been very good about replying, we feel like we're just starting to crawl out from under a big rock. Also, some of you keep putting food in our refrigerator, some store bought, much homemade and all truly appreciated. Some of you are transporting boys, cleaning the barn and house. Sister-in-law Susan sent some books that are really helping us find a way to find a positive attitude in this situation. The whole family even received a blessing from Tom's parent's Priest on Easter. Thank you all so much for every bit of support, positive thought and prayers.

Jan